Odessa Sights

Monument to Poet Pushkin

Description

The first monument to great poet A.Pushkin in Ukraine (the 2nd in the Russian Empire) was formally opened in Odessa in Primorsky Boulevard in 1889. The sculptor was J.Polonskaya, the architect was A.Vasilyev. The monument was cast of bronze and put on a granite pedestal. This monument is the best resemblance of Pushkin.

A.Pushkin spent 13 months in Odessa in 1823 and 1824. He celebrated Odessa in his verses. In 1837 he lost a duel and died.

There was a motion to open a monument by the 50th anniversary of his death. However, it failed through lack of funds and the monument was opened later. There is a legend that the poet has his back to the city hall for refusing to provide funds. However it is just a legend as the city hall was elsewhere then, and most of the monuments in Odessa were built for funds raised among the people rather than provided by the government. What’s more, finally the government filled up the shortage of funds when it had been taking too long to raise them.

The monument was basically finished in 1888 but because of the harsh winter it was formally opened only on the 16th of April, 1889.

There is another legend. There is a very big sycamore tree (platan) next to the monument. It is believed that Pushkin planted it. However, it is more likely that the tree was planted as the monument was built.